Unnamed AU (for now)
by IHaveNoLife17
Summary: When a boy who can literally play with fire joins Lord Garmadon's army, his brother Wu looks for any remaining Elemental Masters to help fight. And what he finds? The sister of Garmadon's new trainee, an inventor, a genius, and an athlete. Great team, right? Except... all are teenagers, the girl refuses to fight her brother, and the inventor barely trusts Wu. Yep, Ninjago's doomed.
1. Chapter 1

"He better be good, Lloyd. Last time you brought me a mortal 'magician'."

"He turned a nickel into a quarter! Even you could've made the mistake."

"Son, I've never heard anything farther from the truth. When will I meet this 'Kai' anyway?"

"He should be on his way. He only just got out of school."

"You mean he's still in school?"

"Don't worry, Father. He's older than me."

"You're 13. This should reassure me why?"

"Have some faith! You should've seen him yesterday, he's powerful!"

Lord Garmadon decided not to get his hopes up; they had been searching for another human to join their army for ages now. Lloyd especially wanted someone new to talk to. Besides him and his father, the army consisted solely of what Lloyd considered monsters, the Skulkin and the Serpentine.

And there was the incident that made many potential villains scared to apply. A year or two after Lloyd was born, Garmadon had gotten so mad at a man claiming to be descended from the Elemental Master of Ice that he'd gotten rid of him. He wasn't dead, just gone. The man's ice was obviously just some form of an elemental spell, Garmadon had thought. It wasn't like he had anything against wizards; everyone knew Lord Garmadon prided himself on the fact that his family was the only descendants of the Elemental Masters left, so to even suggest there were others was punishable in his eyes.

How was he to know the man had a child? When he found out he secretly helped the poor boy, thinking of his own son's similarly white-blonde hair every time he looked at the 6-year-old. He didn't think it was fair for the boy to suffer for his father's actions. Because of Garmadon, he was soon adopted by a man with a son his age.

* * *

"Give it back!" I yelled, jumping to try and grab my homework from a jerk. Kai was only an inch or two taller than me, but today he seemed to think that makes him better than me. I knew it wasn't personal, though, Kai's picked on everybody at some point. Well, not everybody. He's definitely never messed with Cole, or he wouldn't be here to torment me. Or his brother Zane. Cole tells people who don't know them they're twins just to laugh at them marveling at how different siblings can be. Honestly, Zane was adopted.

I've known Zane since I was a baby. Our parents were friends before Dr. Julien, his real father, disappeared several years ago. On the other hand, even though I've ridden the same bus as Cole since the beginning of time, I barely know the guy. It's not that he's mean or anything, we're just so different. He's been on various football teams as far back as I can remember; I've been inventing since I could hold a wrench. In other words, he's an athlete and I'm a nerd.

"Leave him alone!" The shout brought me back to the present, where Kai was giving me a wierd look. I turned around only to see Nya.

Fantastic, I thought, now I'll have to endure teasing about being saved by a girl.

"Look, your girlfriend's here to save your butt."

"She is not my girlfriend," I muttered as Nya said something similar, only much louder.

"Oh, damn," I heard Kai mutter, "I'm late." I shouldn't have cared, but I was a little curious about what a bully would be late to. A class on manipulating people smaller and weaker than you? If so, I'm hooped.

"Sorry, sis, I didn't mean to interfere with your love life." He dropped my stuff and ran off, laughing at his own lame joke. I had to chase my papers as the wind quickly started to blow it all away. Soon I was only missing a math worksheet. I looked around, barely moving a thing but my eyes. I gazed at the bench I'd been sitting on before Kai showed up, the near-empty school building, the autumn leaves dancing in the wind...

"You're Jay, right?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Why am I spacing out a lot more than usual lately?

"You don't sound so sure about that. I only asked since this has your name on it." She handed my math homework to me. "Sorry about my brother," she said as I secured the page in my notebook.

"Sorry that he's your brother?" I tried to crack a joke, but it sounded dumb to my own ears. Why is she still here? I wondered, I mean, I can see how she'd wanna stop her brother, but...

"You do that a lot, don't you?"

"Oh, look, there's the tw- adopted brothers!" I pointed out Zane and Cole, grabbed my backpack and took off. I didn't even think about what came out of my mouth until later. Yeah, I'm lame for leaving like that, but I know I would've embarrassed myself if I'd continued talking to her. It took me all of about 5 minutes to remember I'd been waiting on Zane in the first place. I had turned back around, hoping I could do something to fix my stupid mistake, when my foot was grabbed. I landed hard on my back someplace where I couldn't see a thing.

"What the-"

"Not so loud!" A voice cut me off, whispering.

"What just happened?" I whispered back, searching for a face in the darkness. A light suddenly flashed in my eyes, making me squint and shield my face for a moment before the flashlight was swiftly aimed down on my shirt.

"Sorry."

"For what? Shining that in my eyes or... doing whatever you just did to bring me here? Wait, are you one of those wiz-"

"Boy, I understand you would have questions, but there's no need to be foolish about it. This wasn't magic; I merely used a trapdoor. You'd know if I was lying, wouldn't you, James?"

"Don't call me that! It's Jay! Hey, who are you anyway?"

The flashlight moved under the person's chin, lighting it up as if he was telling a ghost story. "Whoa, you look older than dirt."

"When I was growing up, children were taught to respect their elders."

"Were the elders taught to kidnap children?"

The man who looked old enough to be my grandfather's grandfather chuckled softly, twisting the ends of his long beard around his finger. "Touché."

"Is there a point to all this? The surprise and the excitement are kinda wearing off here."

"Yes, of course. How foolish would it be to bring you here without a purpose in mind?" The flashlight clicked off and something was shoved into my hands a moment before I realized I was being pushed. I heard a faint creak before I was squinting in the sunlight, the wind was blowing on my face... and I was only a few yards away from both the 'twins' and Nya.

"What was that all about?" Nya immediately asked.

"It was to my understanding we were to meet after Cole's football practice. Was I mistaken?" Zane said to me.

"So that's what I was waiting on... I thought it was one of your clubs."

"I don't blame you," Cole said, "Zane's got so much going on. Beta Club, Chess, Robotics, nobody other than him could keep track of it all."

"I am not in the Robotics Club. You are most likely thinking of Jay."

Cole shrugged. "He comes over so much, is there even a difference between you two?"

"There are many differences-"

"He was joking!" I interrupted. One thing about Zane: He's a genius, but he never understands when people are joking. He has about no sense of humor.

"What's that in your hand?" Nya asked. I think she was trying to change the subject, but what do I know?

Only then did I remember the old man had given me (more like forced me to take) something: a folder. I opened it and immediately a picture fell out.

"I knew you liked her!" Cole grinned, picking the photo up and letting the others get a look at it. You know what I said earlier about Cole? I probably should've mentioned this, but he knows me better than I know him, mainly because I go over to their house a lot to hang out with Zane. Anyway, the picture was of the black-haired beauty that is Nya. And I definitely didn't (not) think that. [A/n: The 'not' in parenthesis isn't a typo, it's a clue to something I'll explain at the end of the chapter.]

"It's not mine! I didn't put it in there!" Searching the folder for something to prove my point, I found three other photos loosely attached to the folder by a paperclip. I grabbed two and waved them in the air. "Look, there's a picture of Zane and you too, Cole, and I don't like you- I mean, I do, but not like-like-"

"Oh, shush, Jay, and tell us why our pictures are in there. If it's not yours, then where'd you get it?"

"An old man with a long beard and a straw hat. He- Well, he didn't do much actually. But he gave me that and..."

[A/n: this is where I stop, because I could go on forever. Okay, here's the explanation I promised you: this is based on an attempt at a original story. I had too many Ninjago references for it to make sense without seeing the show, and who wants to read a fanfic focusing only on OC's? So I'm redoing it and replacing my OC's with Ninjago characters. James/Jamie was based on the guardian angel Jay from another fanfic of mine called Ninjerella. Jamie, who is obviously replaced with Jay, had a minor curse I thought would be fun to include. I gave a few hints about it, but they're kinda vague. If you figure it out, I'll try to come up with a prize.]


	2. Chapter 2

[A/n: Nobody corrected me on Jay saying screwed instead of hooped? I fixed it now, but I guess I'm my own worst critic when it comes to keeping everyone in character. Then again, this is an AU.]

"Can I see that?"

I handed the folder over to Cole, where he pulled something else out.

"Did you realize there was a note under that picture of you?"

"No," I answered, shaking my head, "What's it say?"

" 'Find Cole Hence, Zane Julien, Nya Flamy, and James Walker. Your name is included, since I'm not sure which of you will receive this. I have also attached photos in case you don't recognize the names. Hopefully you've seen them, as you go to the same school. When you have them, take this to the museum and ask for Mrs. Misako. All will be explained in time.' And the rest is in chicken scratch." He looked up. "Okay, what the heck does an old man want with us? Think he's just plain crazy or a pedophile?" [A/n: Hope I didn't lose too many readers with that comment...]

"Don't even go there!" I shouted.

"What is a pedo-"

"Trust me, Zane, you don't wanna know."

"How long ago did he give you that?" Nya asked, once again changing the subject.

"Just a minute ago."

"You talked to an old man in the five minutes since you ran off, and he's somehow disappeared since then?"

"I must agree with Miss Nya. It seems unlikely that an elderly man such as you've described would be capable of moving fast enough to be out of sight, especially when factoring in that we are surrounded by grass."

"He was never up here. He pulled me underground, I think, with a trapdoor."

"A trapdoor...?" Cole repeated, "Wouldn't it be easier to put it in your mailbox, or even just hand it to you without going to all that trouble?"

"Wait a second, back up. Did Zane just call me 'Miss'?" Nya suddenly asked.

"He called me mister when we first met," Cole told her, "Zane's always really polite."

"To be honest, Zane's kinda weird." Cole gave me a slightly threatening look, but I couldn't tell if he was joking. "Um, getting back to that folder, do you think we should go to the museum or not?"

"No way," Cole asserted.

"What's the big deal?" Nya asked him, "I've met Mrs. Misako, she's nice. If we go during the day nothing that bad could happen, right?"

"Yeah, Cole. What're you afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid. In fact, nothing in this world scares me!"

"Brother, was it not just the other day that you said, were you ever to see one, you would be scared of dragons?"

I snickered. Zane probably wasn't trying to be funny, but it definitely came out sounding at least a little like that.

"Dragons aren't real," Cole argued.

"They're as real as my hand!" I interjected. Zane nodded in agreement.

"Your hand's fake?"

"If that was a joke, it was pretty lame," I muttered, shaking my head slowly as if I was disappointed.

"Um, the museum?" Nya said softly.

"Why do you two keep taking the topic back to that?" Cole asked, "If you wanna go to the stupid museum, go ahead. I ain't stopping you."

"The note said all of us. Come on, Hence, aren't you even the least bit curious?" (I could say I took a risk calling him by his last name, as I had never done that before.)

The quarterback silently turned around and walked away.

Nya sighed. "Tomorrow, right after school. I know Jay'll come, but what about you, Zane?"

The blonde nodded. "Perhaps I could convince Cole as well."

* * *

"This is definitely not free cake!"

Zane and I quickly blocked the exits while Nya watched with an amused smile on her face.

Cole's obsessed with cake. I went to his birthday party a few years back, and he ate the whole dang thing himself. I guess he can do things like that more often than I can because he works out and he's all sporty, if that makes sense.

"It was necessary in order to convince you to come with me." (Now that I think about it, this was the first time I'd ever seen Zane lie.)

"Zane, Jay, I don't wanna hurt you, so move away from the doors."

"No!" I shouted. The few other people in the museum looked my way, so I smiled awkwardly and waved.

"Look, there's Mrs. Misako." Nya pointed out a woman as old as the guy I'd seen yesterday. Her braided silver hair trailed down her back and on her nose perched silver glasses.

"You just couldn't come without me, huh?" Cole asked accusingly, "Whatever, let's get this over with. Hey, Misako!"


	3. Chapter 3

"Many of my soldiers are idiots, to say the least, so I would prefer not to send them on this job. However, I think it'd be perfect for you to prove your loyalty. My brother hid the Golden Weapons -I would assume you've heard the legends about them?"

The spiky-haired teen nodded impatiently.

"I have reason to believe he gave the map for them to your father. Do you know anything about that?"

"No clue what you're talking about." At the threatening look the dark lord gave him, Kai quickly added, "But I can search our old shop!"

"Good. No funny business, I expect you back by... Tuesday."

"But it's Monday!"

"Then I suggest you hurry up and leave. But first-"

Lord Garmadon turned his head towards his second-in-command. "Samukai, fetch Lloyd for me," he ordered.

"I have to bring the brat with me?"

"You will not say things like that about my son! And yes, I need someone to make sure you don't steal the map for yourself."

"I could easily take on the kid," Kai muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

"Boy, one more comment like that and you know the consequences."

[a/n: This was painfully short, but I didn't wanna write about the others until I decided something: I'm rethinking using Jamie's curse because it might screw around with Jay's personality more than I'd like. Jamie's curse was that he couldn't knowingly lie. Please tell me in reviews if you think I should drop the whole idea or keep it.]


	4. Chapter 4

[a/n: Since no one reviewed with their opinion, Jay can lie. I'm not trying to be mean, but really?]

The woman (along with some random strangers) turned at Cole's shout and walked towards us. "Hello, Nya, Nya's friends. If you need help, please make it quick. My shift just ended."

"I barely know these guys. And, besides, that's not what we're here for. Jay has a note for you."

With all eyes suddenly on me, I got kinda nervous since I _didn't _have it. Cole didn't give it back when he looked through it yesterday. I pointed at the cake-lover and exclaimed, "Cole still has it!"

"No I don't! I gave it back to you yesterday."

"No you didn-"

"Guys, quit arguing," Nya interrupted. "Isn't the note in the folder?"

"I am uncertain on this, but I might recall seeing the folder in Cole's room last night."

"Thanks, Zane. See, he does have it! Hey, am I the only one getting kinda tired of that word? Folder. Folllder-"

"Stop, Jay. And lemme get this straight: we came here to give this lady a note, which is in a folder, which is in my room. So basically this was a waste of time? You can't blame me for this because who would've thought they needed a folder for free cake!"

"I doubt I fully understand the situation," Misako suddenly spoke up, "but I think the best solution would be to go back home, find the folder, and come back tomorrow. Not to be rude, but I have things I need to do. Can you tell me who the note was from?"

When everyone looked at me _again_, I (also again) couldn't do what they needed. I never got the old guy's name because... I called him old as dirt. Real smooth, Jay.

"The note was signed Wu."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Wait, Wu? Wasn't that the name of- Can't be.

The woman recognized the name too, judging by how her expression was no longer one of slight annoyance. "There's someone I've not heard from in a while," she muttered, more to herself than to us.

"So, we come back tomorrow?"

"Yes, yes, of course!" Glancing at her watch, a small look of surprise overtook her face for a second before she rushed towards the door, saying something hurriedly to us about being late.

* * *

"You know, I just thought of something." One more word from Little Garmadon and I swear I'll... "If your dad was such a goody two-shoes how do I know you're not?" I clenched my teeth and resisted the urge to snap Lloyd's neck.

Through whining and complaining he'd convinced his father to arrange a portal to be opened right outside my old village, but that was the only helpful thing he'd done this whole time. For the last hour since then he'd used almost every chance he got to complain: about the heat, his so-called aching feet, and wifi. There's not even wifi in the Underworld, so when would he have gotten used to it in the first place?!

Not to mention his cape. Getting caught on things, ripped by those things, stepped on (mainly by him, but once by me), why would superheroes use them anyway?

Anyway, he'd quit his complaints earlier, sick of whining I guess, and had moved on to making cheerful comments such as, "This place is so old-fashioned," as well as asking pointless questions while I searched for the stupid map. He himself refused to "get all dusty" and played with unsold weapons left out on display. Is it so bad to wish he'd stab himself?

[a/n: Filler chapter, unfortunately. Kai was kinda OOC. Boo me, lol. I think I used too much sarcasm. R&amp;R! 'Nuff said, I suppose.]


End file.
